SEATTLE — One of the most recognizable Seattle businesses is getting sued. Molly Moon's ice cream is accused of creating a stench that hurt a neighboring business.
The parlor in Queen Anne smells delicious today, but the tailor next door says that's a new development.
"I smell such a bad smell-- bathroom, toilet, poo poo, garbagy, rotten eggs and rotten milk kind of smell,” owner of Superb Custom Tailors Misook Chung told us.
For an entire year that’s how Chung describes the odor that filled her business -- right next to Molly Moon's. Chung claims it was so foul she lost $28,000 worth of wedding alterations.
“People start complaining, I get nervous, they start canceling, I get nervous,” Chung explained. So she complained to the landlord — a lot.
"We pay rent every month on time. The space has problem. They should investigate."
They did, and they eventually traced the stink to a pipe underneath Molly Moon's; it was spewing rotten dairy product. Molly Moon's returned our call to say they wouldn't comment.
Chung says she's not mad about the leaky pipe -- accidents happen. She says she's mad it took the landlord so long to crawl underneath the ice cream parlor and discover it.
We talked to that landlord, Ron Amundson, on the phone; he says that's just not true.
"Had I not been diligent and tenacious about trying to figure out where the smell was coming from, it would still be there,” Amundson explained.
We were the first to tell him Chung filed a lawsuit, and he was appalled.
"It's just an attempt to pressure Molly Moon into paying her some money, that's all,” Amundson said.
"The main thing is not money. I feel like I'm the little guy. He didn't respond right away,” Chung countered.
There is actually a Seattle city ordinance about odors, but no one ever called the city to investigate the Queen Anne case.
KIRO